Kage/Shadow is Kira – but on this particular Arc, and to capitalize the fact that this is a Kira-Lacus fic… I'm writing him as Kira, but others will still call him Kage/Shadow.
And again… I will soon move this fic to M-rate. A precursor for future chapters.
Lamia is like a… pseudo OC. From her name, you guys can guess that she was based on Meer. Though… she's less bitchy and I gave her a character of an overprotective little sister and warrior princess. For a moment she may looked like some additional character… but I had an interesting role in store for her – and that is far later.
NOTE:
"Doryaaaaaaaaaa!": normal talking
"Charge!": special case
'Darn!': thoughts
GWA HA HA HA! : Giant creature speech
DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING!
Not even the song. Mizu No Akashi belongs to its rightful owner.
Please… read and review
00000000000000
I don't recall the last time I ever hated someone
Honestly it didn't even start as hatred
At first, I even thought of him to be a kind person. Maybe he is.
She seems like a kind girl at first. A bit of a ditz, but… kind nonetheless.
But when he spoke to me that night…
I just don't know. At first I didn't care, but the more I saw her…
I felt like his purple eyes had just… pierced through me and then strip me naked, seeing all my secrets like an open book.
That blue eyes of hers were all too familiar… no different with these walking corpses I've been slaying…
For obvious reasons… I was… angry… who is he to say those words to me?
I just can't stand the sight of her… it reminded me too much of… argh…
He knew nothing of me! And we just met barely a few hours ago! How dare he!
The more I see her, and with everything that is going on, the more I realized… what a crazy era I lived in
But I looked at his eyes. His purple eyes. It was so full of pain. So full of rage. And I cursed myself for being unable to retort every word he uttered.
I was furious. Really furious. I hold it back all the time when her sister and her bodyguard were watching me. But that last conversation really is the last straw.
What he said to me left me with nothing but discomfort. It quickly turned to anger… and before I knew it…
God… give me the strength not to kill her…
I hate her/him.
God help me…
I hate her/him so much
Chapter 26
The Tiger, The Dragon, and the Princess
There are various things that can kill you in the continent of the Undead. A full charge of a whole army of frenzied zombies, for example.
"TETSUGA TENSHOU!" Kira unleashed an onslaught of his largest Tetsuga tenshou yet. The shockwave plow through an entire army of Genma hunters, ripping them all to shreds in a blink of an eye and turned them to dust. The remaining survivor Genmas were quickly torn apart by a familiar slivering black blur.
An army of Genma Knights and Hunters: 10 minutes and 20 seconds
Not to mention the hellish demonic weather is far from… anything normal and deadly to humans. Like a heavy rain of highly acidic blood.
The exorcists quickly ran into the closest cover as the black sky brought a downpour of red rain. Each droplet was acidic enough to even melt through an exorcist' armor in a few seconds. Kira grunted slightly and then, he suddenly had an idea. Transforming Shiki into its Aoiro Shiki form, Kira held the great sword over his head. And then, with a roar, he swung the gigantic blade forward, slicing the heavens. The black sky was split, literally, and the bloody rain was blown away along with the black clouds. Unfortunately it was not enough to pierce through the darkened sky, but… hey, the rain stopped.
Acid Blood Rain: 1 minute and 35 seconds
And let's not forget the terrain. A hostile, the most dangerous environment one can imagine.
Kira and Lowe plastered several high explosive tags to an enormously tall stony spiky structure made of fused bones, while the other knights were wondering how they were supposed to cross the giant river of boiling blood lava before them. But as soon as the two were done, they quickly ran as far away as they could before – BTOOOM! The pillar's base was blasted to bits and the whole structure began to tilt forward before it finally crashed on the other side with a splash, creating a makeshift bridge that connected the two sides of the river.
"I'd say that gives us a few days before the lava river melt that pillar down." Kira looked at Lowe who approved his estimation with a few solemn nods.
Blood Lava River: about 10 seconds.
And the deeper you go… the fiercer, and the more nightmarish creature awaits you.
A bestial abomination made of amalgamated different corpses burst out of the ground and start charging towards them on all fours. "That thing looked like it was made of… different corpses." Lacus frowned.
"Let's study it, after we kill it." Kira growled grumpily as he raised the Midori Shiki and generated its deadly explosive green arrow from his armored right arm. The arrow charged with bursting fire before Kira let it loose as a green beam arrow of energy. The arrow zoomed through the battlefield and hit the Hulk by the mouth. 5 seconds later, the arrow exploded into a giant conflagration in the shape of raging lion that blew the abomination to bits inside out, leaving nothing but ashes to be studied.
Abominable Genma Hulk: as detailed above.
The pilgrims now began to understand Kira's general lack of fear of this place. He practically cut a swath of ashes all across the continent, single handedly. The Exorcists had trained all their lives in the event they are ready to fight and sell their lives dearly in the blazes of glory… but… with the way things are, their image of a glorious blazing last stand is officially shattered as the pilgrimage turned into nothing more than a picnic walk in the park. Well… figuratively speaking.
"Hiken! HOMURA DAMA!" Lowe swing his katana in a horizontal arc, the blade ignited mid swing, sending forth a firestorm that engulf the Genmas. The monsters screeched and wailed as they ran away, completely ablaze.
A Genma hunter was pushed to the ground before Kira put a foot on its chest and slashed its throat, turning it to dust a moment later. Three Knights charged at him but Kira slipped past them, mutilated their legs and beheaded the three of them with one stroke.
Kira and Lowe is pretty much the only ones in the pilgrimage who can cause some REAL damage to the Genma attacks, outside of the powerful Hakutenkun, Andrew Waltfeldt. But so far, the situation hasn't grown as dire as to needing the desert tiger to swing his axe. And somewhere along the line, Lowe suddenly established a friendly rivalry with Kira, competing on who can bust out the most Genma in a skirmish. A rather one sided rivalry (mostly due to a wide margin in the Genma killcount), but if Kira mind, he doesn't show it. It's easy to track which person is responsible for which kill. Lowe had taken Kira's advice of dissection to heart. Combine that with his explosive fighting style (literally and figuratively) using his grenades and fire based attacks from his katana, this creates an extremely potent Genma counter fighting style which leaves behind localized destruction, small explosive craters, and trails of black charred earth and corpses' pieces. In a rather stark contrast, wherever Kira's shadowy figure quietly threads, white ashes is all that will be left trailing behind his black figure. The shinobi also fought with a combination of his superweapon, and sometimes, the terrain itself, all this was done with terrifying speed and even more horrifying cold silence and precision.
"Hiken! GURREN KAINA!" Lowe launched a high uppercut at a Genma by the head with his explosive tag riddled glove. The Genma Knight upper half was blasted to smithereens in an instant towering conflagration that followed. The said glove was quickly reduced to cinders.
"You know Lowe… don't you think it would be more prudent if you stop screaming your attack names out loud, every now and then?" Kira sliced a hunter as he stood back to back with Lowe. "Your screams attract them."
"It's spirit, Pardner! You just can't keep that much flaming spirit inside here without letting it out every now and then!" Lowe smirked as he put on a new glove, replacing the one that was in cinders just now.
"Well… it's not like they care… Ah, who am I saying?" Kira's comment was quickly cut off as the two warriors quickly charged forward again as the Genma swarmed upon them, and working in concert, they enter a macabre of fire and steel, shredding and burning everything within reach, making a short work of wave after wave of Genmas coming their way.
A Genma Hunter swing its claw past Kira's head, and the shinobi managed to barely dodge the attack by a hairbreadth. But the claw snagged Kira's headband. In rage, the shinobi cut the demon's arm as Lowe stabbed it by the chest with his fist, before he again ignited another "Gurren Kaina!" inside out. The Demon was blasted to bits. And then it was over.
Kira gazed around the battlefield to see if there will be any more unwanted enemies. There's none as far as he can tell. He looked at the severed demon arm on the ground. It turned to ashes as he looked upon it… leaving just his mangled headband. The demon's claw tore right through its cloth. He needed to replace it later, but for now he can't use it anymore. "Tch." Kira sighed in annoyance and put the severed headband back into his pocket bag. His messy brown hair is in full display now. Kira scratched his hair and shook his head several times. He's been killing a hell lot of Genma this morning, and their ashes are everywhere, including his hair.
"Ha! Ha! I think there's going to be ashes in your hair for the next few months." Lowe snorted in glee.
"Oh, shut up, you."
"Regroup!" Waltfeldt can be heard bellowing from behind.
And the pilgrims assume mobile formation again as Kira also returned to his post at Lacus' inner circle. Kira especially noted that the pillar of light which they headed is rapidly getting bigger and bigger, signifying that they are getting closer. "We're nearing the sanctuary."
"It won't be long now. Just a short walk. There's not much left here but bodies and bones." Lamia pace seem quickened slightly.
But Kira sternly noted in a cold tone: "That was the last words of one of my men before a Genma rip him to pieces a few seconds later."
And the girl stopped on track in horror and nervously turned to the Shinobi.
Kira next advised her in a friendlier tone. "Let's not get too over-excited. We're still hip-deep in danger area. Especially the closer we get to the prize."
"Hear, hear." Hilda, ever responsible for the safety of the two princesses, agreed wholeheartedly with Kira's cautionary note. And Lamia humbly nodded and slowed down her pace.
Kira also looked at the other pink haired Princess. Ever since that night, Lacus had given him the silent treatment. Likewise, Kira isn't so keen on engaging any conversation with the Princess either. However, they did throw each other subtle angry glances and deathglare every now and then. But as they approached the Sanctuary, Kira noticed a different kind of silence around the Princess. This silence is serene and calm, born out of focus and concentration. Apparently she's preparing for whatever task she came for.
"It took massive amount of spiritual energy to purify a sanctuary." Lamia explained. "Lacus is currently concentrating, building, gathering up all her spiritual energy, charging it up, preparing to unleash it in a single burst during the purification ceremony."
Kira may not be a priest, but he nevertheless understood the concept and nodded.
A short, thankfully undisturbed, walk later, and they finally arrived at the base of the light. As the pilgrims continue to walk into the light, the pillar grew brighter and larger… until it finally engulf and blind them. Kira, having never experienced something like this before tensed and grunted when the light swallowed him. He can feel the light pierced through him. But it doesn't hurt. Rather, it felt… warm, comfortable… and pure. Kira find it an enjoyable feeling.
When the light finally subsided, the Pilgrims finally found the use of their eyes again.
As soon as his sight returned, Kira's eyes widened in disbelief as his jaw hung in awe.
"So… this is… the Sanctuary?"
It was a sight of Heaven in Hell. Lush and rich greenery with beautiful and lively vegetations, enshrined with flowers of various types, all bloomed beautifully. White warm rocks, jutting out of the green patched earth. Mighty ancient trees stood majestically, pointing high above. Not the diabolical kind which was made of amalgamated fossilized flesh and bone, but genuine wooden tree, complete with its rich crown of emerald green leaves and flowers. At the center of this heavenly environment is an enormous structure, the source of the pillar of light, bursting to the sky. It's an enormous great tree, created by the merging of the largest of the mighty elder trees. The trees were entwined with each other in an intricately beautiful manner, forming a nature-made temple… no, a citadel made of tree and rock and whatever other nature's bounty that was integrated into its construction, and they meshed perfectly, like a seamless castle made of a single stone. So perfect, in fact, Kira consider it impossible to be made by human hand. This was also confirmed by the fact that the nature-made citadel was further decorated with floating white rocks, some are larger than life, others a tiny pebble, and they all circle around the tower of light, adding to its majesty.
But, above all, is the atmosphere. It was sacred. It was divine. Calm, and quiet… and above all… it was bountifully peaceful. So peaceful, in fact, Kira, who had been constantly on guard throughout his time in this island, felt compelled to drop down his weapon then and there. It was as if there's no way something bad can happen here. It was as if all the horrors that Kira had endured from the first time he took up arms to this point is just a dream.
"I can bet you're jaw hung right now." Lowe snickered as he looked at Kira's awed eyes. Kira was too mesmerized to respond. "Errhh… Pardner, something wrong?"
"What?" Kira flabbergasted as he regained his senses. "No. Nothing. It's just… it's… it's beautiful. I've seen enough hellish things on this island to last a few lifetimes… I… Well… I…" Kira was so entranced by the beauty he was lost for words.
Waltfeldt laughed in understanding, slapped the shinobi's back. "Yeah. I know what you mean. It's unbelievable how something so heavenly can exist in a place so hellish."
Kira chuckled as he gazed the surroundings. It's a bit eerie. The Hellish warping of the demons stop right where the light shines. The aura, generated by the tower of light, created a perimeter. An area. Anything within this area is full of life. And in stark contrast, outside the perimeter, it's Hell incarnate.
"Now you know why it's called a miracle." Waltfeldt saw what Kira saw and explained. "This light rejected all that which is unholy. Demons and their spawns alike. As such, life flourished here and more importantly, they endured. The demons cannot taint it. We never knew why or how. But… it was enough for us." Waltfeldt gazed upon the Tower of light with reference. And now that Kira noticed it, the other Exorcists too were gazing upon the light with reference. Some even went so far as to kneel and pray before it. Waltfeldt tapped Kira's back. "This is a good chance for you to catch some rest. I'd imagine slaughtering your way here put up quite a strain."
Kira couldn't agree more. Yes, Genma turned to ashes the instant he killed them. But when Kira cleaved through them, they're still flesh. Rotting and falling apart as they were, flesh still gave some resistance when they were cut. And resistance means extra effort and extra stamina needed. Several other knights also decided to rest up and relax their vigilance. He looked at the Princess. But he couldn't find her. Surprisingly, even Hilda and Lamia didn't seem to be in panic with their charge nowhere in sight. "Where's…"
"Lacus-sama is making the final preparation for the purification ceremony. She's not to be disturbed by anyone." Hilda stated.
Kira nodded and obeyed. Everyone seems quite certain that there won't be any danger here. Kira decided to hold their actions for it and so he too rested his guard and joined Lowe and his team and other knights and exorcists around a campfire. Liam is currently tallying the number of kills for Kira and Lowe.
"I had the count… Shadow: 278, Lowe: 55. I'm sorry Lowe, you're still far behind." Liam had just made the accumulated count of Kira and Lowe's Genma headcount.
"Aww man!" Lowe threw himself back in disappointment. "It wasn't really a fair match, ya know. Shadow only need to lethally hit them once to kill them. I had to hack them to pieces."
Kira chuckled quietly and agreed. Indeed, that was way too unfair of an advantage.
"But you're the fire Expert! This is embarrassing!" Kisato roared angrily as she had to hand the knights their winning: they betted on who can kill the most Genma in one morning. The knights, almost unanimously, betted on Kira, obviously.
"Why don't you give it a try?" Lowe protested.
The knights laughed and snickered. All the sudden, Waltfeldt barged in, carrying various instruments and widgets before he gently placed them around the bonfire. Several knights, recognizing those gadgets groaned. "Again, my Lord? Awww…"
"Shut up! This is complicated and delicate work!" And then, Waltfeldt began working on his gadgets. He put a few spoonful of black beans and start grinding, filtering… all the widgets. Kira took note of how the large man meticulously paid undivided attention to every detail. His powerful hands are now adjusting its bone crushing strength to gently handle the smaller and obviously delicate instruments: grinder, spoon, tea-pot. A guy as overbearing as Waltfeldt could probably crush the normal sized equipment he's using if he's not careful. After some more grinding and mixing of curious blackish brown powder, Waltfeldt finally pour some well prepared hot water, and he's quite accurate to the last drop. And then, still with the same meticulousness, he brewed the pot in the fire. So tense he was that sweat flooded his large fingers and brows. He even used a pocket watch and count every second that passed to measure the length of cooking time. Veins popped out of Waltfeldt eyes as if he's eying every spark of fire bursting out of the fireplace.
Kira took a few whiffs and recognized the smell: "Coffee? You're making coffee?" All that just to make coffee?
Waltfeldt was too engrossed with his coffee to answer, but he nodded anyway. A few more minutes and then… Waltfeldt took the pot and pour a stream of steamy menacingly jet black liquid into several cups. Waltfeldt smiled in satisfaction. "Coffee, anyone?"
"No, thank you." Every Knight and Junk Guild member in vicinity answered.
"Yes, please." Only Kira accept.
"Here you go, one cup of latte." Waltfeldt gave one cup to Kira.
'Latte?' Kira looked at the boiling purely jet black coffee. 'If this is latte… then what happened to the…'
"To life!" Waltfeldt offered a toast.
Everyone watching, the two toasted, took a sip, the onlookers buckle up and quickly duck for cover. The next instant, the two coffee drinkers spit the jet black toxin back out. Both Kira and Waltfeldt coughed and wheezed. Waltfeldt looked at the pot which contained the disgusting substance he just brewed. And the hakutenkun lost his temper as he threw his cup away in a silent outburst. He almost reached for the pot to do it some mischief, but he stopped at the last second and regained his composure when he realized everyone's watching. Waltfeldt nodded and get back to his seat, but he was visibly disappointed.
Kira looked at the other Knights. It looks like this was not the first time. The knights get back to their seat, but they were still a bit rattled. And then the atmosphere went back to normal. But it became near total silence, since Waltfeldt seem genuinely upset.
Kira took one more sip of the awful coffee. Tasting it. Well… it was bad.
Kira took Waltfeldt's coffee making instruments, emptied the pot and set about to work. First, he heated up the coffee beans for a few moments before quickly and gently grinding them, over and over again, until it became extremely fine brown powder while simultaneously boil the water in the pot. Then he sprinkled the hot boiling water through the finely powdered coffee while he heated the milk. This creates a thick and condensed coffee, almost syrupy, with light brown foam on it. His work finally caught Waltfeldt's interest. Kira moved fluidly, showing much experience. And before long, the coffee was ready in a reddish brown color. First he poured the foamy espresso on a cup, then poured the milk unto its foaming surface, he even create some latte art of a feather decoration with the milk. And then it was done. Kira whiffed it, smiled in satisfaction, and then gave it to Waltfeldt.
Waltfeldt, mesmerized, took the latte, took a whiff of its heavenly scent and sip.
A taste that the Desert Tiger will never forget.
"Well?" Kira asked. "What do you think?"
"What do I think?" Waltfeldt closed his eyes, savoring every last drop of deliciousness of the condensed coffee taste in his tongue down his throat. "Sit down with me Shadow… I have two questions for you: how did a guy like you know how to make a coffee this good and why is it, when I make it, it tasted like crap?"
"Well… you're too tense. I've brewed a lot of coffee all my life. Still haven't figured everything out. Relax a little. And use this." Kira pointed at Waltfeldt's chest. "Not this." Kira pointed at his head. "Trust your gut feeling. If it doesn't work the first time, try it differently next time. It's like field-stripping stuff: repetition, repetition. And you need patience, among other things." Kira offered his coffee to everyone, and already cups lining up. "As to how I knew all this stuff… put it this way: if I want to poison you guys, good coffee always helps." And the cups were quickly retracted, coupled with horrified stare. Kira quickly added: "That was a joke."
A bad joke.
"Well at least if I'm to die drinking your coffee, I'll die happy." Andy fearlessly drank all of Kira's coffee to the last drop and then bravely asked for refill.
"Careful with your caffeine level, sir." Kira gave the refill regardless.
"S… Say, Pardner… that Katana of yours… it's very interesting." Lowe commented to change the mood. "It changes form to suit the situation?"
Kira nodded.
"May I?" Kira held his katana, rather reluctant to give it to someone else. "Worry not, I won't steal it. I got my own here. Right here." Lowe proudly showed Kira his katana. A red katana, ornamented with golden decoration on its handle. And there's an Oni face carved at the pommel of its grip. "Here, go ahead." Lowe handed his katana to Kira in a proposed exchange.
Kira took hold of the katana. And after a bit of contemplation, he handed Lowe Shiki.
Lowe smiled, but then quickly added just as he let go his katana. "Oh and before I forgot…"
KA-THUMPH!
Kira looked angrily at the nervous Lowe. 'Are you trying to crush my arm or something?' Kira shouted in silence with his glare.
"…That thing's a bit… heavy." Lowe fretfully added in a low tone.
The Katana, sheathe and all, literally sank to the ground when it fell. Kira looked at Lowe's apologetic look. Kira handed Shiki to Lowe as he began to literally excavate the katana out of the ground. Kira grunted as he struggled to lift the katana's prodigious weight. All those weigh training paid off as Kira managed to lift the sucker out of the katana shaped crater it created. But pulling the whole set out is one thing, unsheathing the katana out is another. When it was finally out, Kira and all other knights gazed upon the Katana.
First glance, it looked like a normal Katana. Incredibly well made. A nodachi, three times thicker, and, as Kira further struggled to even hold it with both hands, it's incredibly heavy. The sword itself is extremely sturdy, as if it's one solid seamless piece of metal. However, the blade is black with an eerie purple glow around its sharp edges. It has tiger stripes on its blunt side. Doesn't look like any steel Kira has ever seen in his life. It's… shiny black.
"I made it from Space Earth." Lowe snickered.
"From what?" Kira and Waltfeldt echoed.
"We're not even sure if that is the right name." Liam chuckled. "I mean… that thing just fell from the Heavens right in front of us in a ball of fire. A chunk of stone. We broke it, and in its core we found this super dense, super tough, super heavy metal. Luckily the impact shattered it to pieces but… those lit'l suckers weigh 50 pounds… for each pea-sized piece!"
Kira twitched in disbelief. Waltfeldt whistled in awe. "And you forged it into a katana? Nice."
"And not just some katana…" Kira eyed the katana's edge carefully. "…Lowe… you really made this monster?"
"Took me 10 months, 6 trips to hospital wing for multiple dozens of bone fractures. WORTH IT!" Lowe grinned ear to ear as he striked his fist to the sky in triumph.
Kira swallowed a nervous gulp. "You go this far… and you made the edges like this?"
"Edges?" Every non Junk Guild member looked at Kira with confusion. Lowe stopped smiling for once.
"Now I finally know how your sword can ignite flames like that…" Kira nodded as he eyed the blade very closely. "The secret came from the finely serrated edges of your blade… that saw-like edge."
"Saw? Serrated edge?" Waltfeldt looked at Lowe's katana a bit closer. Now that Kira pointed it out, he was right. Unlike the smooth edge of a normal sword, one can actually see there are countless nearly microscopic 'fine teeth' lining up the entirety of the katana's edge from top to bottom. And the surface of the blade itself is roughly jagged, forming thousands of teeth, creating a spiky saw like edge. The countless teeth merged together and shaped a katana's edge.
Lowe didn't react and remain solemnly silent.
"The katana's blade edge… is not a single piece. The katana… or rather… the edges, were made of countless pieces of tiny slivers, and forged, sharpened, and put together to the shape of the katana's edge in a purposefully rough manner, creating a jagged but sharp serrated edge. These teeth grate the air or the ground, creating sparks… but that was just the igniter. What really burns… what really explodes…" Kira gazed deeper into the blade, finding out the reason why the blade had an eerie purplish hue on its edges. "…is what you inscribed into each and every tooth of this katana… tiny microscopic carvings…of the seals for explosive tags. The high explosive kind too."
"What?" Waltfeldt gaped in disbelief. He narrowed his eyes… straining it to its uppermost limit… but he finally asked for a magnifying glass and as he glared through it, he realized Kira was right again. Engraved into the serrated edge, which is composed of tiny unquantifiable slivers of blades, merged together… and upon EACH of this sliver, Waltfeldt could barely make out tiny black engravings. It looked a LOT like the seals on the explosive tags that Kira and Lowe had been using often on this pilgrimage. "W… Whoa… How…"
"In Japan… there's this… art… calligraphy art which… the artist wrote short poems into tiny grains of rice. I'm guessing you're using the same principle?" Kira concluded.
Lowe chuckled, and then he finally laughed as he clapped his hands in admiration. "You got it in one, Pardner. That's right." Lowe gently took the nodachi from Kira's struggling hands. Unlike Kira, Lowe lifted the heavy sword with just one hand as if it was featherweight. "Though please don't call it tooth. Call it fangs. When we process the space earth, we can't melt the meteor's super-dense core completely. At least, we can't do it on a large mass. The furnace melts before we could even dent it. So we chipped it. One sliver at a time, making it relatively easier to be forged. After which we put the slivers together-one piece at a time, forming a sword. And then we forged it, meld it, put it together and sharpened it… until it finally became Gerbera. That's its name."
Kira nodded and laughed nervously. "That's one HELL of a sword."
Lowe grinned widely. And now he began eying Shiki in his hand. "Hoho… I know this style… this is one of the Oowazamono of Hattori Hanzo's."
"Hanzo? And how can you tell someone's work just by looking at it for one second?"
"Every artist has their signatures, my friend. The type of steel they use, the heat, and the cooling water… this one bear the distinctive styles used by Hattori Hanzo. One of the world's greatest swordsmith. My master, a retired Japanese samurai and a swordsmith himself, talked about him often." Lowe quickly handed over Shiki back to Kira. "This one likes you very much… I don't think I won't be able to make it transform the way you did if I want to."
Kira took back his katana eying in reference. Oowazamono denotes some of the finest katana ever made, super weapon or not. And Shiki had proven that to him more times than he would care to count.
"You know, I've heard rumors…" Waltfeldt took another sip. "They say the Alliance created 5 sacred superweapons. They say all of them had immense power. Rivaling the Regalia, if they are to be believed."
Several other knights snickered. "Let the naturals create whatever they want. It's not like their soldiers worth more than a dime a dozen!"
Kira rolled his eyes. He's not exactly naturals… but if these guys knew the things he did with just a single superweapon…
"Hattori Hanzo…" He knew that name, but only in whispers and folklore. He was a legendary Samurai. After he retired, he became a world class sword smith. His work are few and in between, but many are considered either Oowazamono, or even better, Saijo Oowazamono. He also heard that Hanzo never make weapons exclusively for anyone, not to Zaft, not to the Alliance, not even to Orb, having sworn a blood oath not to do so. It makes sense a swordsmith of such caliber are capable of creating weapons of incredible power: Ryujinzan, Blitz Armature, The Dragon Buster, the last weapon which Kira had yet to see, and Shiki herself. Very few swordsmith are capable of forging such weapons. There's a strong possibility that all 5 superwepons were crafted by the same person. Which beg the question on how on earth the Alliance ended up with 5 of them in their belongings in the first place? If he think about it more carefully, he knew next to nothing of the origin of Shiki…
'Don't worry about it Master.' Shiki murmured in his head. 'I'm still your partner either way.'
'Thanks.'
And then, the chatter suddenly stopped. Kira noticed everyone's attention were focused elsewhere, and so turned towards the center of attention and gasped.
Lacus, together with eight other priestess, is walking serenely towards the citadel. The atmosphere is tranquil and sacred.
"It has begun." Waltfeldt whispered, explaining to Kira. "This is the procession of the purification ceremony."
Upon reaching the base of the citadel, the other eight priestesses dispersed and stand guard as Lacus continued her pace towards the citadel. Once the Priestess reached a certain distance, the citadel shook slightly, and then, it opened up, creating a doorway. A bright glow shining out through the opening, and Lacus serenely and quietly entered as the light engulfed her and closed her from view.
"What's in there?"
"A lake. At least… that's how Lacus described it." Waltfeldt explained again. "Only the main priestess, that is Lacus, is allowed to go in there. The other eight priestesses are there to aid her in the purification ceremony. They act like a… well… a ward."
00000000000000
Inside, Lacus walk in a steady pace until she reached her destination at the heart of the structure. A glowing lake. The source of the pillar of the light. The Sanctuary.
Inside, the Priestess will pray until they enter some sort of a… Trance.
And then, one by one, piece by piece, she removed all her clothes, until her slender naked body is in full display without a strand of clothing covering her modesty.
As she loses some of her consciousness, she will synchronize her spiritual energy with that emitted by the lake. Aligning it so that they'll be in tune.
Lacus took a dip into the lake. As her toe touched the lake, instead of sinking, a gentle ripple appeared as her feet floated a few millimeters above the water. And then, calmly, Lacus walked across the lake's glowing surface to the center. Once there, she knelt down… and pray.
The synchronization is a long process, but even longer, is when the purification reached its peak. Once the priestess is aligned, she will began the purification ceremony, and perform the Holy Procession and the Focus.
As Lacus pray, her figure steadily began to sink into the water. As she did this, the lake began to glow, and the light became more and more intense with each passing moment.
00000000000000
Lacus remained inside the sanctuary for a greater part of an hour. During that time everyone seemingly held their breath and waited tensely. All chatters died down and unlike before, no one dared to crack a joke or laugh. Even Kira can feel just how serious this moment is. Still he can't help to ask. "How long does it take to purify one sanctuary?"
"It's not the same for every sanctuary. As I understand it, it is said that the deeper you go, with each sanctuary, the requirement for spiritual energy significantly increases. It took half an hour on the previous sanctuary. I don't know about this one but-"
Mizu no naka ni yoru ga yureteru
"Wait!" Kira quickly cut Waltfeldt's explanation. "Did you hear that?"
Kanashii hodo shizuka ni tatazumu
"Hm?" Waltfeldt quickly jerked his ears. A voice began to echo from the citadel shrine. A song and it's steadily grew louder.
Midori nasu kishibe
"…singing?" Kira blinked. '…it's… beautiful…'
Utsukushii yoake o
"It has begun." Lamia sighed in relief, though she's still quite anxious. "The 'Focus'."
Tada matte iraretara
"The Focus?"
Kirei na kokoro de
"Once a priestess has been completely synchronized with the sanctuary, she can direct and channel the sanctuary's divine energy through their body. At this stage, the Priestess must completely immerse themselves in their trance, turning themselves into the vessels for that power, and then use it on her Purification prayer. The act of channeling, controlling as well as unleashing that power is called Focus." Again Waltfeldt explained.
Kurai umi to sora no mukou ni
"But… what's with this… song?" Kira struggled to maintain rational thought to no avail. He so wanted to stop asking questions and just listens to this song. This song sung with such heavenly voice.
Arasoi no nai basho ga aru no to
"Well… priestess enters their trance to focus their powers in different ways. Some use dancing, others praying, others may use meditation, etc, etc. It's not the same with every priestess. In the case of Lacus… she used her song as a method to go into trance, as well as the conduit for her Purification." Waltfeldt ended his explanation as he closed his eyes, serenely listening to Lacus's heavenly voice.
Oshiete kureta no wa dare
At this point though, Kira barely listen to whatever Waltfeldt said to him as he's completely engulfed in Lacus' voice.
Dare mo ga tadoritsukenai
Lamia and pretty much everyone, smiled dreamily as they listened to the siren song. "Onee-sama's voice is enough to make even the gods brimming with envy."
Sore to mo dareka no kokoro no naka ni
Lacus continue to sing passionately at the center of the lake. Her heavenly voice reverberated within the halls of the sanctuary. The sanctuary's lake surface rippled and finally splashed up, raising Lacus high up as she continue to sing. Her eyes were completely blank. She was in complete trance, completely unaware of what she was doing or what's happening around her.
Mizu no nagare o shizumete
Kira could've sworn he had never, ever heard a voice more beautiful than what he's listening right now.
Kureru daichi o uruosu shirabe
He just stood there, listening. His eyes went blind. His skin went numb. His nose went dull. His tongue gone numb. All of his senses but his ears went dead. In fact, on this occasion, his sense of sound seem amplified a hundredfold, as if it wanted to catch every tone, every slightest whisper of this voice.
Ima wa doko ni mo nakute mo
It's like every cell, every fiber of his being is listening to this song. As each word flow into his mind, they created an image… it was as if Kira's watching Lacus sing inside the sanctuary right in front of him.
Kitto jibun de te ni ireru no
God, he wished the time would just stop and let him stay there, listening to this song… this serene voice… forever… and ever…
Itsumo itsuka kitto
And then, the whole citadel shook. The floating rocks around the pillar of light began to float away, and the light itself grew more intense and soon, it illuminated the whole area. Before long, the pillar grew bigger and bigger, everyone can feel a strong breeze blowing against their face, and escalate as the light grew brighter and brighter and engulf them all. However, they were too enraptured by the beauty of Lacus' voice, they did very little to run or protect themselves against whatever's coming for them.
Mizu no akashi o kono te ni
In a silent but grandiose moment, the pillar erupted into a blinding wave of light that gently engulf first the perimeter, and then slowly and surely, expand to the surrounding area as well.
Subete no honoo o nomikonde nao
The wave of light swept across the hellish landscape, embracing everything with the warmth of its light. Lacus voice were carried forth by the light, reverberating throughout the entire area.
Hiroku yasashiku nagareru
The warped environments where the light passed and touched were instantly incinerated in a silent white silver cleansing holy flame.
Sono shizukesa ni tadoritsuku no
Its Genmas inhabitants also suffered the same fate, wherever, however they hide. Every undead in vicinity were instantly, and soundlessly incinerated, leaving behind nothing… but ashes and cinders.
Itsumo itsuka kitto
It was silent. So quiet. But it's not menacing. No…
Anata no te o tori…
…It's peaceful.
00000000000000
Back at the sanctuary, the light had died down as the song also reached its end. As soon as the song ended, so did everyone returned back to the reality. Everyone except Kira…who's still in somewhat of a dreamy state.
"Aibou? AIBOU?" Lowe slapped Kira awake.
"W… wha… Whrth… what? What?" The shinobi flabbergasted.
"It's done. You're alright?"
"I… Wh… Wherthk…"
Still he talked in gibberish. Lowe and Wlatfeldt looked at Kira's eyes. It's still unfocused and bewildered. "Urm… anybody got water?"
The next instant, Lowe splashed Kira's half dazed person with some cold hard water. This time, the Shinobi is FULLY alert.
"Wakey wakey pardner. You're okay? Wake up buddy! Show's over!"
Kira harrumps and blinked several times. What on earth came over him? "Yeah… Yeah, I'm awake… I'm… I'm sober." And as Kira turned to see his surroundings, he noticed Lowe and Waltfeldt snickering suspiciously. "…what?"
"She does have a beautiful voice, no?" Waltfeldt mischievously smiled.
"Yeah… she does…" Kira nodded solemnly at the pure truth.
"And the singer is pretty cute too." Lowe snickered.
"But she's practically a walking timebomb of trouble."
Kira's last response erased the mischievous smiles from their faces. Now that's a new response they've never heard before. Usually, normally, people would get flustered as they agreed and indirectly admitted their crush to the princess. But this Ninja showed blatant disdain.
Just then, the gate of the citadel reopened. And from the glow, Lacus, now clothed, came out. But much to Kira's and everyone's shock and horror, she was staggering badly, struggling to even stand up. Visibly tired, with sweat flooding her whole figure, she's holding on to the citadel's structure for support. She slipped her grip and collapsed. She would've landed on her face if it weren't for Kira, who instinctively perform shunshin no jutsu to move directly right in front of her and caught her midfall. Kira looked at Lacus' face. She was deathly pale, and seems to be dying. Even her slender body is actually pretty thin, almost like malnutrition rather than a female beautiful slender figure. She's sweating buckets and her skin is as cold as ice. "I need some medical attention here!" Kira roared.
Lamia's heart skipped a beat and she quickly rushed to her sister's side.
Moments later, a tent was set up in front of the citadel. Inside, Lacus lay on her bed, still unconscious and gripped by terrible fever. Kira and Lamia stood on watch, with Lamia occasionally replace the compress on Lacus' forehead every now and then when they became too wet with Lacus' sweat.
"I… never knew… To purify a sanctuary is actually such a dangerous endeavor… to say nothing of the danger of the trip itself." Kira gazed at Lacus' weak and fragile figure. Did Lady Lennore endure this too?
"A priestess or priest used spiritual energy… a manifestation of their mental force. I don't know the exact details but… To synchronize their spirit energy, it is imperative for a priestess to raise their spiritual energy to level equaling or nearing that of the sanctuary's to elicit a response. And a sanctuary is practically a gigantic vault of spiritual energy… the power they contain is… massive. It took an equally massive amount of effort to use that power." Lamia looked at her sister with great concern and spat bitterly. "This is not a task that any priestess can handle."
Upon hearing the word, Kira was quick to put two to two together, as always. "She… she wasn't qualified… wasn't she?" Naturally, only the best priestess would be sent to an endeavor of such importance. Thusly, in order to select the best priestess, there should be a stringent selection process. One that should've chosen a priest or priestess fully capable of doing all seven sanctuary (with the assumption they live that long).
"I've never even heard anything of whether or not she was qualified. I just… found out that she volunteered… and it's all been one god-damn nightmare."
"How is she… as a priestess that is?"
"In a word? Mediocre. I've seen her training, seen her results… she's good at it… above average but… not exactly extraordinary. You know what I mean."
"I see." Kira nodded. But this again proves to Kira something was seriously wrong with the princess… and this pilgrimage as a whole. How can they send her into this ordeal if they knew she wasn't qualified in the first place? And what kind of person, in their right mind, would go to a place like this? 'But… if I knew the answer to the latter… would things be any different then?' Kira thought as he looked at Lacus fragile unconscious form. Before Kira was there, they fought against a nearly insurmountable odd, an eternally unkillable army of undead. Lacus had to watch as all these people, her sister included, fought on and on, at the risk of a fate worse than death. At the present, he had a count of 56 Ruby Exorcists, and a 127 Emerald knights. "How… How many were you… when you first came here?"
Lamia noted the grim tone and answered. "We came with 200 Exorcists… and 300 Emerald Knights. And we reinforce ourselves with 500 of the Junk Guild members. Though they say when Lady Lennore first came here, she had one third of that number. But it's been getting harder, year after year."
A month and a half, they've only purified one sanctuary and they've already lost more than half of their number. Even the mighty Advanced race, with all their strengths and bloodline limit, is no match for an army of their undead kind. And not to mention the fact that these undeads were originally residents of this continent, replenished each time with members of a fallen pilgrims and their escorts that came here. Who's to say, among all the undeads they've encountered, that there may be their brother, sister, mother, father, son, daughter, or any of their loved ones, turned into mindless monstrosity and now set about against them. To watch brother fighting brother, father killing sons, lovers murdering one another… unwillingly or not. That's a horror that Kira was unable, and probably never will, understand. And even if they survive all that, what awaits Lacus is an even harder task that, not only it could very well killed her, she must endure it alone as well. Even if she was in her right mind when she first volunteered, who's to say she can remain so in here?
More and more Kira felt more miserable over his choice of harsh words to her last night. All the hate and anger he felt for her before was gone, instead only pity and concern filled his heart, with a large serving of regret for desert.
"Ng…" The two looked at the pink haired princess on the bed. Lacus began to shift in her bed as she's gaining consciousness. And soon, her baby blue eyes stare at two pair of eyes looking at her, one pair are blue like her, the other are purple. "Lamia-chan? Kage-san?"
"Onee-sama! Thank the Gods. You really gave us a scare."
Lacus quickly took notice of what had transpired and sighed. But she still looked pale and her throat felt really parched. "Water…" Lamia jumped up her seat and quickly rushed out of sight to get the water, leaving Kira and Lacus alone. Kira looked at where Lamia disappear to and then to Lacus. The girl quickly realized Kira was staring at her. "What?"
Kira sighed. "I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"For what I said last night. I may have been… overly immature to say those words to you." Kira bowed his head down slightly as a sign of apology.
Lacus was a bit taken back. "Overly immature?"
"Well… I've heard of Pilgrimage before… but I guess having only read about it… and the way I've been easily go through this island… I kinda… lose sight of the hardship you've all endured and I was unable to understand the horror that you all went through. If I couldn't kill Genma, I probably would end up just like the others. My ignorance made me said all those horrible words… so… I'm terribly sorry." Once again, Kira bowed his head. Lacus' eyes widened slightly. The shinobi's tone is filled with genuine regret and shame. "I admit… at first… I thought you were one of those thrill seekers type. You know, the kind of nobles who, bored of mainstream entertainment, you tried something more… extreme."
Lacus looked at Kira's purple eyes. They're dark and gloomy, as if it's currently reminiscing a dark memory. Lacus entered a quick deep thought. The shinobi seems to be intimately knowledgeable of a lot of aspects of Zaft's society: the way it works, its customs, its traditions, and its troubles. In particular, the shinobi is also well versed in the ways of Zaft's higher class - including, Lacus quickly noted – it's decadence as well. The Zaft princess quickly caught on. "You… you used to live in Plant… didn't you?"
"I wasn't always dressed like this." Kira chuckled bitterly as he pointed at his black clad garment. "There was a time when I lived there. Learned the ropes. And saw all sides of the society. ALL sides: the good, the bad… and a bit too much of the worst, I guess."
Lacus was particularly caught by surprise at this comment. "…you were… a noble?"
At this Kira laughed sarcastically. "Yeah right. In my dreams. I'm an orb citizen now… and damn proud of it." He snorted as Lacus tensed at the pure bitterness, anger, and above all, hatred, which she felt from the first part of his comment. "And I'll say this for the sake of clarity: I HATE Zaft and all of its nobles. The Empire may rot for all I care." Kira declared coldly before a shocked Lacus.
Unfortunately, Kira declared this out loud just as Lamia entered the tent with a cup of water in her hands. That statement froze her in her tracks, with a horrified expression plastered on her face. Kira was aware there's another listener to the conversation but he continued anyway.
Lacus saw inside Kira's eyes and found nothing but sheer cold dark fury and raging hate. Kira meant what he said. Every word. But then, his eyes mellowed again and the fury and hate were once again outshone by a gentle and kind soul. "Still… perhaps I was a bit too affected by my own prejudice. Hence I came up with hasty and childish conclusions based on incomplete understanding, hence the harsh words. And for that… I'm sorry for my conduct last night. It was so much less than what you deserve. I'm more than understand if you find it hard to forgive my improper transgressions." Kira stood up and bowed down, after which he turned around and was ready to leave the tent. But then, suddenly, he felt a weight bumped him from his back. Kira turned around and saw Lacus had once again glomped on to him. She quickly let go, and already Kira felt something's missing. Quick check: Shiki is in Lacus' hands.
"Princess? Could you please return my weapon?"
Lacus stick her tongue out in defiance and simply gazed on the superwepon in her hands. She gently unsheathed the katana and momentarily reveled in the glow of the blade's surface. "A real life Japanese Katana… I can't use them… but I have a few of them in my home… and this is truly the greatest steel I've ever seen…"
Kira remain on standby, while Lamia was as uncomfortable as she ever gonna get.
"…how many of our kind have you murdered with this blade, I wonder?" Lacus gave a bitter smile as she guessed correctly.
Lamia was horrified while Kira was unmoved, as if expecting this question is a long time coming. Kira replied calmly, to Lamia's further horror: "Too many."
Lacus' lips parted in slight surprise as she looked at Kira's masked visage. She could barely make out a smile… a sad regretful smile behind that mask. She then sheathed the katana back to its sheath and then noted sadly. "You must've hated us very much."
Kira didn't respond to that.
"What on earth have we done to you to fill you with so much… hate?"
Again Kira didn't answer and he approached Lacus and gently grabbed hold of his katana in her hands, though she still won't let go. Kira looked at Lacus' deviant eyes. She's demanding answer. Kira only have one: "I left and washed my hands clean of Zaft and all my ties with it. Now… it's just a particularly dark episode of my life I'm not too fond of reminiscing. But I will deal with it when the time comes."
Again, their eyes locked at each other, just like the way they first met.
Lacus frowned as she realized that Kira is avoiding the answer and in retaliation, she yanked Shiki and then bumped Kira's head with it, earning a grunt. But Kira was able to reclaim his weapon. Lacus then declared: "I forgive you." But she quickly added: "But I still really, really hate you."
Kira's eyes widened slightly, but then he chuckled. "…I don't mind anymore. In fact…I encourage you to keep that sentiment. After all, I am a being you should hate. You ALL should." Once they found out the things he's done, of exactly how many of their own kind he had massacred, including their national hero, that he had been likened to a Genma catastrophe because of it, and worse, of how he himself is also a member of their own race, which also makes him a traitor… Kira calmly walked past the horrified and mesmerized Lamia and get out of the tent, calm and composed as if nothing happened.
00000000000000
Lamia was still in total horror over what she just heard and bore witness. She remained at that shocked state until Lacus came over to her and took the water from her hand. That's when Lamia found her voice again. "Onee-sama… what… what in God's name did you two just talked about?"
"Why… it's exactly as you hear them." In stark contrast with her sister's panicked tone, Lacus carried herself calmly as if nothing happened. "He admitted himself: he had murdered Advanced before… and as he implied himself… probably by the hundreds. Or more."
Lamia became even more panicked. They're entrusting their life to a mass murderer who had killed their kind for a living? And just now… just now she just left her sister alone with this man? What in the blazes possess her to do that? How many murderers, assassins, bounty hunters and headhunters had made attempt on her life up until now? Her sister had just barely escaped with a skin of her teeth! However, Lacus didn't seem too perplexed of the concept.
"Calm down, my sister."
"Calm down?" Lamia looked at Lacus in disbelief as if she's crazy, wildly ruffling her hair in pure distress. "CALM DOWN? A murderer… a MASS MURDERER is walking in our midst and you're asking me to CALM DOWN?"
"Why, dear sister… I am also a Kunoichi, a fully qualified female ninja, if you recall. What on earth do you think Shinobi and Kunoichi are?" Lacus calmly sipped her water. "We ARE the experts in espionage. We murder, infiltrate, steal, spy… whatever it takes. You can beautify the things we do… but ultimately… we are assassins." Lacus noted sadly.
Lamia looked at her. "But you're different! You… you never…"
"Murdered anyone? Stop lying to yourself." Lacus chuckled bitterly. "Lamia-chan, you fret over a single murderer in our midst. Need I remind you that everyone on this pilgrim: the knights, the exorcists, the Junk Guild, you, myself included… we are all killers." Lacus' eyes became somber and cold. Lamia was greatly unnerved at this.
"B… But he killed our kind? The advanced!"
Lacus retorted. "Were we so different? Does it matter? A murderer is someone who takes life. It doesn't matter if it's Advanced or Natural, for good or ill, directly or indirectly… we kill. We take life… and we killed. That's… a murderer."
Lamia was left speechless as being unable to respond to her sister's reasoning.
Lacus took a gulp and began thinking deeply. About how Kage-san had behaved himself, the way he act, the way he react, the way he speak. And then, she finally concluded a part of the shinobi's mentality which she gleaned early on when they first met. "Nee… Lamia-chan… did you remember… when you asked him to help our pilgrimage… you offered him a title?"
"Well… I thought it was a pretty good idea. With our standing as it is, we were more than capable of granting nobility to others, if they prove worthy." Lamia stated. "It was a rare opportunity that others would kill to get… but he…"
"That was a bad idea." Lacus took another gulp, finishing her water. "He refused." Lacus stated solemnly. "Because he wouldn't consider it an honor… he considered it an insult."
"An insult? Why?" Lamia was quite shocked at this.
"Did you see the way he looked at you when you knelt down on the floor before him? The moment when you offered him the nobility?" Lacus remembered the moment all too well. For the briefest instant, she saw a flash of pity in his eyes upon hearing Lamia's offer. Lacus fidgeted nervously as her grip around the empty cup in her hand tightened. "He looked at you… and me… in the same way people would pity beggars on the street."
Lamia was completely taken aghast. "You mean… he consider himself of higher class than us?"
"No. I don't think he think very highly of himself. Rather… he considers nobility is such a worthless thing that it would simply degenerate him. It's something that is beneath him and he will not suffer to steep to our level. This is not a simple matter of arrogance… no… this is something different… He is what he is… and he took pride of staying that way."
Lamia stood in awe upon hearing Lacus' explanation of Kage's beliefs. Orb citizen and damn proud of it. When was the last time Lacus and Lamia ever felt pride of their nation?
But, as their thoughts fly towards their own society, the two, particularly Lamia, quickly fell to dismay. Being princesses of an esteemed family, Lacus and Lamia knew what Kage meant all too well. Zaft is an empire divided into castes, where one's bloodline determines their standing. This is the current result of the interpretation of George of Glenn's codex, in which a person's rank is determined by the blood flowing in their veins; a system that has remain uncontested for centuries ever since the founding Father's demise. The highest are naturally the royal family of the Crimson Emperor. Below them, in that order, are the Nobles, the Merchants, and finally, the Working class, or the commoner's class, as the higher class would so often call them in a derogatory manner. The nobles, especially those of the highest class, enjoy a life of luxury where their every whim is fulfilled with the best their riches can buy. Another thing an Advanced had above the naturals is their heightened sense of things. They were able to feel sensations more thoroughly than normal naturals, be it pain or pleasure. But as the higher class grew tired of mainstream entertainment, they seek more stimulating, increasingly hedonistic methods to achieve their high. In fact, Lamia had asked some of the knights who fought on the frontline, and they admitted that the original reason they first joined the army was because they're bored. This decadence has become an increasingly worsening social problem in the Advanced society of Zaft. Voices had been raised, but it was ignored on the onset of war with Naturals – even worse, these behaviors were encouraged as an incentive on the account of replenishing the army's ranks.
So Kira thought that Lacus was one of those thrill seeker types. He thought she would go to extreme length as to go into the continent of Undead for some extreme adrenaline pumping action, hence his harsh words. 'He realized now that he thought wrong, and he already sincerely apologized for it.' Lacus frowned. '…but who can blame him? He wasn't entirely wrong about everything else, and saw our empire in a clear line of black and white…'
Lamia frowned in sadness over the extent of decadence of their people in which she and Lacus had personally witnessed to a great extent. To think it has gotten so worse that even an outsider like Kage had gotten a word of it and he had developed such a horrible image of their Empire's citizen. Even worse when the image was not entirely inaccurate. Lacus approached her depressed sister and lovingly embraced her from behind.
"Onee-sama…"
"…when you first found out about just how bad our society gotten, you raged to our father and then joined the army soon after in protest."
Lamia bent down her head in sorrow. "But you stayed by our father's side. And… and…" The disciplined Lamia began to crack.
Lacus hugged her beloved sister tighter. "We can change Zaft for the better. We can do it."
Lamia returned the hug, and the two sisters continue to be locked in their embrace for some time, until Lamia finally calmed down and regained her composure. The twins looked at each other and smiled. "I'll let you rest for a few hours. Then we'll break camp and continue?"
Lacus shook her head. "Uh-uh. Kage-san said that he doesn't have much time. I would hate to impose on him. Give me 15 minutes. Then we break camp."
Lamia nodded and left.
As soon as her sister is out of sight and earshot, Lacus sat back on her bed, and once again her expression turned glum and cold. She whispered flatly to herself: "…we can change Zaft for the better…"
And she added in a cold… lifeless tone. "…I wonder if I truly believe in that."
00000000000000
Fifteen minutes later, just as Lacus had instructed, the pilgrims broke camp and once again they were on their way. The knights assemble themselves, but there's a slight change in the lineup: for some reason, Lamia became greatly unnerved in the presence of Kira. Even more so when Kira was close to Lacus. With that in mind, Kira was moved to the second circle of 4 feet radius, which, as Kira noted, are mostly composed of female knights under the command of Hilda Harken. Though personally, Kira would've preferred to be right on the front line, together with the other male knights. The reasons, in part, because he can feel the other female knights around him, with the exception of Hilda, are dreamily staring at him much to his discomfort. Already he can hear chuckled whispers, mostly around the speculation of what he looked like under the mask. So he decided to stand right next Hilda, the only woman who doesn't seem to be affected by his 'mysterious cool guy charm'-thingy, much to Kira's relief.
They walked out of the safety perimeters of the sanctuary… and back into Hell. The landscape instantly changed from heavenly to hellish as soon as they left the perimeter. Some of the knights weren't so keen on going outside the border, where it's no longer safe. Some of them whined.
"Aww… why can't the Gods expand the sanctuary perimeter any bigger?"
"Shut up! The Gods will not fight battles we won't fight ourselves!" Waltfeldt growled.
"At least we got Shadow! The demons should learn better than to mess with him!"
"Need I remind you I'm just one man?" Kira snapped angrily. The Knights shivered upon hearing the angry growl, and they quickly disciplined themselves and manned up. The girls around Kira chortled. But Kira didn't. It wasn't his intention to sound that angry, but as soon as he left the perimeter of the sanctuary, he felt like a piece of him went missing. As if he just dropped something mighty important behind… Naturally, this caused the shinobi to be a little bit…on edge. But as he walk on, he would glance left and right every now and then, looked at Shiki on his back, and then back to check his surroundings before repeating the whole process again. He was clearly troubled. Mostly mistook his actions as a sign of constant vigilance.
Hilda awkwardly eyed at the anxious shinobi, wary if the ninja detected a danger she did not foresee. "Something bother you, Lord Shadow?"
"I… Why do I get the feeling I'm missing something?" Kira moaned in annoyance. "It's like… I felt I just… dropped something behind…"
"Perhaps it slipped away when you rested in the Sanctuary?"
"That's the problem… I checked, rechecked and do it over and over again… everything is in its proper place." Kira shook his head. "Or maybe it's just this place affecting my head. Keep moving. No need to stop just for me."
As they travelled along the road, Kira was quick to notice several things. Namely, the lack of any Genma attack.
"The purification destroyed all Genma." Hilda explained. "Before you came here, that was pretty much the only method we knew of on how to defeat the Genmas."
"Which beg the question… how come… after 72 years… there are still genmas here?" Kira noted as he passed by a trashed series of empty suits of armor. No doubt belonging to the cursed knights disintegrated by the purification effect. "I'm guessing… not every pilgrimage is an unmitigated success?"
"You're saying?"
"72 years. And there are still millions of them in here. I'm guessing the rate of which the Genmas massacred the pilgrims greatly outstrip the rate in which they are being purified,"
"Intel is rather scarce as to how deep each pilgrim get. But we do know this: no one has ever returned. And even when you see how the Purification expanded and purify the surrounding area, the purification did not endure the same way it was in the perimeter of the Sanctuary. We purify them… but after a while, the demons will corrupt them again. The only known record of a safe return was Lennore Zala and she admitted she managed to get all the way to 5th Sanctuary… and she stated it was purely out of luck… and sacrifice from almost all of her retinues."
"Luck huh? Lady Lennore was always a frugal and modest person." Kira murmured the last part to himself, chuckling lightly as he did so.
"Pardon?"
"Nothing." Kira quickly replied. But he quickly noticed a few drops of ashes around the field here and there. They are… eerily similar with the ashes left behind when he killed the demons.
The road steadily grew narrow as they were funneled in by two high cliffs on both sides. The entourage soon arrived before the base of a huge, towering structure, splitting the road to two. The group stopped, considering which way to go. Either way leads towards the next pillar of light, the third sanctuary. But the pilgrims hesitate. Both roads are narrow, sandwiched by two high cliffs… either way is a perfect place for ambush, they go either road and if… when… the Genma attacks… they're fish in the barrel.
"I'll scout ahead." Kira volunteered. "Waltfeldt-san, guard the rear. Lowe, take front."
"Me? Guard the rear?"
"Yeah. That's the most important job… or are you telling me your title as a Hakutenkun is just… a title?" Kira chortled. If Waltfeldt is even half as powerful as Raww or Veia… he should be more than capable of holding his ground for a few minutes it took for Kira and Lowe to reinforce him without getting wounded or bitten.
"What? Why you! You remember to eat those words when someday I save your ass kid!" Waltfeldt jokingly replied.
Kira chuckled again and quickly scout ahead. He stopped just a few steps from the tower. And he quickly tensed up as all his danger instincts blared up again. He took out his sword, and everyone immediately took that as a sign of danger and they quickly moved on standby. Both ways are dark. Too dark. "I could use some light…"
Waltfeldt gave a few hand signals, and two Exorcists lit the torches on their armor on fire. They each took a skull out of their bag, the skulls were riddled with carvings and paintings of arcane markings and lines, and then hold the skulls before them as they closed their eyes and concentrate.
One speak: "Blessed brother, I humbly ask for thy assistance."
The other: "Blessed father, I beg thee for aid."
"Let mine strength be thy bones, let my spirit be thy flesh…"
"Ask of me what thy need so that thy may aid us again…"
"And let thy wisdom illuminate our way…"
As they continue their enchantments, the markings and the holes on the skull grew alight. The two exorcists then threw the alight skull to the sky, and they quickly burst into bright flames and fly ahead of the team, circling around Kira a few times before one went to the left, the other went to the right, illuminating the road ahead. Kira looked to the skull on the left, nothing, to the right, also nothing. But his instincts told him all is not as it seem. Then he looked at the towering structure before him. He had a bad feeling about that ancient structure. He gave another hand signal.
Waltfeldt nodded, and another Exorcist threw another flaming skull. The skull fly up the tower, illuminating the structure, revealing tendrils, bricks, ancient architecture, eyes, and some statues.
Wait, what… eyes?
Kira glared up and a pair of red eyes is glaring back at him from the darkness. A red dot appeared on his head, and then quickly slithered to his chest. Something in that tower is looking at him. And then, all the sudden, hundreds more of the said red dot appeared allover his upper body. Kira looked back up and saw hundreds of pairs of eyes on the dark tower.
"…oh, crap…"
An instant later and Kira was riddled with arrows. Though he turned into another corpse right away.
Lowe sighed a breath of relief. "A kawarimi no jutsu…"
"Yep." Kira sprang out right behind Lowe, scaring the shit out of him… effectively making him faint while standing still. As Kisato woke up her boss, Kira narrowed his eyes and looked at the tower again. Now with some illumination and as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could barely make out the shape of the creature that shot him.
First glance, a pack of skeletal zombies, with all the features that came with genma: the half rotting flesh adorning their exposed endoskeleton, the demonic tendrils, the misshapen mutated dangling armor, the gleaming empty red eyes from the skull socket, a slight difference where they're carrying a large demonic bow, fused to their right or left arm, and they used arrows… plucked out of their body. Well… that's just about it… for the upper half. But waists down, 4 to 5 of these Genma Archers were conjoined together around a… Kira fought back an urge to vomit: a… woman's… womb… A naked zombie woman! Complete with all the feminine curves on her body… and the breast as well… and… and she's crawling with her head dangling upside down, and her womb, which hosted the archers, are jutting upward. Her arms and legs had been demonically warped to become disproportionately long limbs that helped her crawling on the tower on all fours in a spiderlike manner and her back impossibly arched. And the whole tower was swarming with these… these… Archer Hostess.
The Archers slowly pull another arrow from their rotting bodies, and placed them on their bows and pulled it. The arrowhead is dripping with their black blood with maggots bursting out of the wood. Already the pilgrims found red dots on their beings.
"SHIELDS UP!" Kira and Lowe roared just in time. The Knights quickly assumed the tortoise formation and boxed out just as the arrows were let loose. The arrows fly en masse from the tower and rained upon them. The boxed shields turned to pincushion in an instant. The Genma archers took turn as they let loose one arrow after another, resulting in a continuous fire. Within moments, hundreds of arrows are now stuck on the conjoined shields, and the knights were beginning to get pushed back by the endless stream of arrows from the archers.
Underneath the wall of shields protecting him from a nearly endless stream of arrows, Kira could do nothing but peek. "What was it that you said about the inhabitants of this place?"
"The deeper we get… the more monstrous it'll be." Lowe explained. "At least the shields hold…"
"They're gonna need something with more bang to knock this shield off, sir." One of the knights confidently stated.
Kira briefly took a peek from the chinks of the shield and saw a disturbing sight. One of the Genma archer packs stopped firing, and their Hostess carrier's womb began to twitch. The twitching became more violent and the stomach suddenly bulged explosively… as if something wanted to come out. Kira clasped his mouth in horror. 'Don't… tell… me…' The Genma Hostess' stomach suddenly split open… revealing a baby's upper half… with bloated body… filled with a menacing glowing orange hot liquid in its bloated belly.
"BREAK OFF! BREAK OFF!" Kira screamed in horror, knowing what comes next.
The Genma Hostess screeched and lunged her baby towards them… as a bombardment.
The Knights break rank barely in time as the baby crash landed right in front of them, forming a crater. The baby quickly jumped out of the crater, looked at the shocked knights and then screeched in a sickening baby scream before it charged to the first line of knights on all fours, bloating rapidly as it did and as expected… it exploded, spraying its payload of acidic reddish goo. Two knights who were hit directly vaporized in an instant after a brief scream of agony. The others managed to use their shield to block the splash, but the acid quickly consume their shield, and began eating at their armor as well. They had to throw away their rapidly corroding armor. But when they do so, the arrows pierced through them, immediately infected and turned them into Genma. Kira quickly unsheathed Shiki and beheaded the poor souls, turning them to ashes.
That's when Kira suddenly noticed something's wrong. He looked at the Katana in his hand. 'Wait a minute…'
Alas, before his thoughts were processed further, another roar coming… from right behind them.
The ground cracked as another horde of Genma knights burst out. But these are a different sort of Genma knights. They've… evolved… far more mutated than before. Their head had been so horribly malformed it became darkened into a black silhouette of their knight helmet, leaving only two glows of red light that was their eyes. Except the fact… each of them clearly have more than one pair of eyes, and… well… they don't have just one face. The last trace of the teal colors of the Emerald knights is gone. The dark red tendrils that previously bursting out of the chinks of the armor has gone a long way merging with the said armor, giving it a muscle-like appearance, fusing the armor and its user completely. There seem to be more spike and flesh than armor at this point, forming an organic armor of bones and horns, and fangs… and some fully functioning extra faces, complete with mouths and twitching red eyes plastered as its decoration in parts of the said armament. Even their sword had become a creature in its own right. Lines of bloodbathed fangs, clenched tightly across the sword, a series of fully functioning pairs of eyes… instead of demonic sword, it's more like a demon that shaped like a sword. Even their shield has also evolved even more. The shield's edges are now lined with twitching spiky appendages, and a large demonic screaming head now adorned the said shield. And they're dripping droplets of black corruption from every one of their leering mouths.
An entire battalion of such evolved Genma Knights appeared right behind them. And they're coming in fast… much faster than the previously inferior type. So a rain of arrows at front and a marching Genma knights from the back, with cliffs at their sides. They're surrounded.
Kira quickly charged to the rear and slashed one of the knights. The knight surprisingly blocked the attack and then countered in a very skillfull fashion. Kira barely dodged the slash to his throat, noting how fast and accurate the slash was, before he quickly returned a slash of his own. The knight slightly back away to prevent lethal cut, but its chest is still cut nonetheless and ashes burst out of the said large wound. Surprisingly, the Knight simply staggered, but not destroyed, and it's still more than capable of retaliating in force, much to Kira's shock. "What the…" Kira grunted as he barely dodged a stab to his waist and quickly cut the knight's arm, behead him, and then stab through his heart from the stump of its neck for good measure. Now the Genma Knight truly fell dead to ashes. "Damn… these evolved knights… they're getting harder to kill…" The heart. He had to stab the heart to really kill them off this time. And between the demonic armor, the shield, and the notable increase in their skill and speed made these new evolved knights real tough SOBs to put down. And there's still a bunch of them back there! Kira quickly retreated back to the group and back to defense.
"What now pardner?"
"We fight our way back to the sanctuary. We need to figure out a way to deal with those archers."
"Wh… You can't just shoot them off with your green arrow of destruction?" Lowe grunted under the endless barrage of arrows. Where the hell these guys did had so much god-damn arrows?
"I couldn't… this is NOT Shiki!"
That comment made Lowe and Waltfeldt looked at Kira and to the katana on his hand. "What?" The two echoed.
"Someone… someone switched my weapon with a fake. This… is just an ordinary katana!" Kira growled. That's the feeling of loss he's been having. Shiki was gone! "Someone… someone STOLE IT!"
"You have no other means to kill them without your Shiki?" Waltfeldt grunted as the rain of arrows began to intensify, and the knights are getting closer.
"No. I can still kill them… but Shiki ain't just a weapon, it's a sacred superweapon! One of a kind. You don't get that from the local blacksmith."
"But… we had to fight those enhanced Genma Knights."
"Better them than these archer bombardiers! GaH!" Kira grunted another one of the Hostess of the Archers lob another one of her baby grenade at them. Luckily no one was killed, but they're getting pummeled, no mistake.
"Alright. Alright. We go back to sanctuary… sort this whole superweapon thing. PULL BACK!"
But before the pilgrims can retreat, a localized earthquake suddenly occurred. A gigantic Genma… as in gigantic, it's practically the biggest Genma they've ever seen and tower over them all like an elephant towering over a mouse; literally erupted right behind them. Like the Genma Hulk, it's also created of amalgamated corpses. Gigantic black ichors lining up its spinal cord, extend to the upper side of its elongated neck, and its head featured a giant distorted humanlike face, without a jaw. Underneath his face is literally a series of teeth. And if the Hulk is about 3 times bigger than a knight, this one is about 3 times bigger than the said Hulk! In sense, the creature is centauroid, with four hind legs supporting an upper body. Thing is, the upper body is oversized and overweight, and his muscled, bulky arms were equally as big, hence the creature is hunching, lumbering forward with their forearm as support, like a gorilla. The four undersized legs on its back carried the rear as the frontal arm carried the forward body. Its shoulder is heavily well armored. But his forearms, instead of being armored, had at least half a dozen of Genma knights fused on them. Heck, the forearm were made of conjoined knights, each of them carrying their weapons and shield… and each of them appear to be fully capable of fighting individually, even in that fused state.
And lastly, its split stomach is literally spilling tons and tons of fresh Genma Hunters and evolved Knights out of its deformed guts.
The Genma Tyrant took one step forward, each step shook the very ground and bellowed in a terrifying howl. The stunned pilgrims practically had reality shoved up on their hanged jaw as their way back is officially blocked.
"Okay… this just got way more complicated." Lowe paled.
00000000000000
6 merchant ships sailed to Junius, 5 returned. Only 1 remained.
Torii parched quietly as he observed the atmosphere in that ship in silence.
Sai would often pace back and forth, constantly turning his gaze to the direction of the shores, hoping that his best friend would show up on the shore, waving his hands to call upon them to pick him up. It's been a full day… and there has been no sign. Out of all of Kira's current friends, Torii noted, Sai was the one most level headed. And perhaps, because of this, Kira would often implicitly trust Sai's judgment and opinion, probably so much more than the bespectacled boy had yet to realize. Torii knew of course that Kira trust all his friends, unflinchingly. But Kuzzey's death was a factor that brings these two together, closer than the others. And they both struggled to ensure such accident will not happen again. If Sai weren't picked by the straw, Torii suspects, that if Kira didn't do what he did, Sai will.
Torii flew to the cantina, where he heard raised voices.
"We have to give Captain more time!"
"There's no way anyone can survive even a day in this place! Blacklist or not! We should just go now!"
"Listen you creep! Captain sacrifice his life to get us here! If any of us were in his position he would wait!"
"Not all of us are blacklist!"
The soldiers were arguing on whether they should stay longer or leave early. To Torii it was clear to him as to who are loyal to Kira, and others who are still in doubt. And so far they're equal in number. His master still got some ways to go to train these men.
Torii flew off again, and this time, to the captain's quarter. Inside, he found Mwu.
Mwu's ever cheerful atmosphere is gone. His face seem like it was locked in frown. Like Sai, Mwu would often glance to the shore, hoping to see a glimpse of his student. His hair is in disarray, and eyebags began to form under his eyes for he didn't sleep a wink ever since the incident. He looked up and saw Torii was looking at him. Mwu smiled and motioned him to come down.
Torii obliged and landed in front of Mwu. "You have one crazy master, little birdie."
Crazy? Torii merely chirped. Seeing the things his master has done in the last few months, one can say crazy is the only conclusion anyone could come up with to describe his master's attitude. But for Torii, he had known Kira all his life. Longer than any of his current friends. And he's been at his master's side throughout much of his life, far-far longer than even his childhood friend, Athrun Zala. And perhaps because he knew the other side of his master that others rarely, if ever, seen; to him, Kira's has been acting in a normal fashion. And his response, extreme as they may, was done out of necessity.
"Was he always like this, even before I screw his life up?"
Torii chirped again. In his opinion, Kira and Mwu share a very unique relationship. Mwu is Kira's teacher. Probably not much in physical at this point, but more in a spiritual manner. Mwu was the one who first throw Kira into a life of fighting and bloodshed. A fact that both sides are more than aware: with Mwu deeply regretting it and making it up by trying to the best of his abilities to help and aid Kira anyway he can. And Kira, well, Kira still held a deep resentment and anger to Mwu for his part on turning his life into a living Hell. But for all his anger to Mwu, Torii can see that Kira greatly respect Mwu and care deeply for him, seeing the man as an elderly brother figure. And though at times he feigned ignorance or irritation, Torii knew that Kira always, always took every advice Mwu gave him to heart.
Torii chirped and kindly pecked Mwu's hand. It is his way of tapping his hand in a friendly manner to show support.
"I see." Mwu smiled sadly.
Torii then motioned the Captain to move downstairs with his wing, pointing at the direction of the cantina. Mwu blinked several times, but then he decided to go to the cantina with Torii parched on his shoulder. Upon reaching the cantina, Mwu was welcomed with a sight of the men of the 7th division on each other's throat.
"WE'RE STAYING! PERIOD! WE'RE GONNA WAIT FOR KAGE! NO MATTER WHAT!" Sai roared at the soldiers who voted that they should leave immediately.
"B… But! Sai-san! Be reasonable! No human, no matter how powerful, can survive even a day in there. Even the Advanced feared it! We…"
"KAGE BARELY LEFT FOR A FULL DAY AND YOU GUYS HAD ALREADY INSINUATING MUTINY?"
The soldiers were also at their wits end and raised their voice to match. "WE HAVE FAMILIES WAITING FOR US! WE AIN'T RISKING OUR LIFE JUST TO WAIT ON SOME CRAZY SUICIDAL NINJA! Besides, back there, he left us behind to be butchered by a whole army of Zaft!"
"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?" At this Sai exploded and everyone was a breath away from a brawl…
Until a loud bang stopped the riot from escalating. Everyone looked at the source: Mwu banged the floor with his fist, creating a small crack. "EVERYBODY SIMMER DOWN!" He roared.
Everyone held their punches and looked at the captain.
Mwu glared angrily at each of them. First, to the guy who moaned of how Kage left them at the mercy of Zaft knights.
"Kage has given you choice to decline early on. You volunteered. That means, you agree to be committed, to the end. So we're staying. We've agreed that we'll stay here for a week. Not a day less…" Mwu now turned to the soldiers who voted to stay. "But not a day more. Kage wouldn't want us to endanger ourselves out of some blind loyalty. You guys should understand that after the whole Archangel Crisis ordeal."
Everyone bowed down in deep thought at Mwu's words.
Mwu continued: "The day he told me his grand plan of training you guys, he told me this."
"I'm not abandoning them." Kage stated. "It's called trust. I will trust them to do things right when not in my presence. If I want them to trust me, then I'll start by trusting them to do what's right."
"That was the whole foundation, the whole core of which he based his training of you guys." Mwu stated before the awed soldiers. "He trusted you. All of you. Trusted you to do the right thing. So how bout if you guys returned some of that trust to him, eh?" Mwu ended it with a smile. "This guy has been doing one impossible thing after another. Even I who prided myself of doing the impossible can be left aghast. So let's bet on that shall we?"
The soldiers looked at each other, all hostility was gone, and they finally calm down and returned to their station in peace.
After seeing how Mwu get a hold of the situation just fine, Torii nodded in approval and flew to the ships' prowl. He gazed towards the shores of Junius.
Mwu can hold the fort… but the 7th division is still Kira's men.
With that in mind, Torii knelt down and then took flight into the continent.
00000000000000
A barrage of arrows and acidic baby grenades from the front, and a virtually endless stream of genma warriors, coupled with the ginormous Genma Tyrant blocking the way back, spilling forth the said army from its guts.
"You got any plan Bs, pardner?"
"Give me a minute…" Kira groaned as he ruffled his hair.
"WE'LL BE DEAD IN A MINUTE!" One of the knight roared as the frequency of the baby grenade began to escalate.
"Doton, DOURYUU HEKI!"
Masses of rock suddenly rose up and barricaded both the front and back, creating a pair of crude earthen walls at both sides and protecting the pilgrims at the center. Everyone looked at the smiling Liam Garfield, whose hands are touching the ground, for he's the one who cast the Doton jutsu just now.
Lowe cheered gave the Junk Guild's cartographer a thumbs up. "NICE JOB! LIAM!"
"That should give us a couple of minutes…"
And already a large chunk of the top half of the crude wall was blown off.
"Or maybe a few seconds." Liam added nervously.
"Okay… let's see our options." The top warriors: Kira, Lowe, Waltfeldt, Hilda and Lamia gathered discussing within the precious seconds the walls have given them.
"So we need to retreat. But we had to get through that crazy huge gigantic Genma." Lamia surmised the situation. "And if we want to push forward, we need to neutralize those archers." She looked at Kira with disbelief. "And you say you lost your weapon?"
"Someone took it… and replace it with a fake. A decent sword… but… can we talk about this later?" Kira growled. Shiki's important, but this is neither the right time nor place.
The wall on the rear began to quake, the front wall began to fall one piece at a time.
"If I can just bypass those stupid knights I might be able to do something about that overgrown gorilla…!" Waltfeldt looked at the two ninjas. "Without that Shiki thing… You guys wouldn't happen to have any other tricks that can blast through those knights or shoot down those archers?"
"I'm melee expert, and I can't lob my grenades that far!" Lowe gritted his teeth.
"The archers are right out. They're on elevated ground, and none of my current arsenal can hit that far…" Kira frowned as he looked at the tower. If he had Midori Shiki, he could just shoot and blow up the entire tower. "But as for the knights…I do have something… My Goukyaku no jutsu should be able to plow through em… But it won't do much good if that Tyrant keep spilling more reinforcements!"
"Goukyaku no jutsu? Pardner, Goukyaku is a mass of flames! It'll just disperse midway!"
Kira blinked in confusion at Lowe… and then he remembered a little something: other than him, Mwu, and the other Shadowguards, no one knows about the four Cardinal seals of roost, serpent, tiger and dragon. '…right… I forgot.' "Lowe, you've never seen my Goukyaku."
Waltfeldt had no idea what the hell Goukyaku no Jutsu is, but if it does what Kira had just said, that's enough for him. "Okay. Make an opening for me, I'll deal with that Tyrant."
And just in time, the rear wall gave in first as the gigantic amalgamated fist of the Tyrant smashed it to pieces with a bang. The Tyrant roared as the Genma knights from its guts poured in again.
Kira moved upfront ahead of Waltfeldt and Lowe facing the undead knight charge and then clasped his hands together. "Lowe… look at my seals." And then, in rapid succession, he began making a series of furious handseals. Lowe quickly noted the inclusion of multiple handseals he had never seen before. Lacus, who is also a kunoichi, had her eyes widened when she saw the seals. Kira ended it with a tiger seal as his cheek began to swell.
"Katon…" Six knights charged forward towards Kira. "GOUKYAKU-NO-JUTSU!" Kira stomped forward and blew a mass of scorching fire, casting his most powerful Goukyaku no jutsu yet: a solid and condensed fireball in front of him. The fireball remain suspended right of Kira, with its size being many times bigger than the caster, thus it momentarily shielded him as it incinerate all incoming knights. And once the fireball had reached critical mass, Kira spit and the fireball was launched towards the direction of the towering giant, plowing through scores and scores of knights, literally carving the ground wherever the fireball thread, destroying everything in its way. The fireball stopped upon colliding with the belly of the Tyrant, only to explode spectacularly in a thermonuclear explosion that incinerates other genmas in vicinity. It was even powerful enough to engulf the Genma Tyrant, earning a scream from the unholy beast.
The blast was further funneled by the sandwiching cliff, causing the explosion to become concentrated forward and engulfed the entire narrow corridor in a straight line. Every demon get caught by the explosion was instantly turned to ashes, just like all of Kira's Genma victims. It seems even the jutsu performed by Kira still carries the Genma killing effect. All the Undeads that swarmed their rear flank were annihilated in one breath. Kira ended the jutsu and coughed up several sparks of fire as he laughed nervously. "Okay… that went way better than I thought…" Looks like all those trainings really paid off. He had no idea that his full power Goukyaku is now this powerful.
Lowe was jaw hung. Just what the hell are those Goukyaku no Jutsus he had seen or cast all this time? Fireworks? Those were nothing compared to this! "And you didn't use this from the beginning… WHY?"
Kira faltered slightly as sweat instantly formed on his brows. Waltfeldt noticed the visible decrease of the shinobi's stamina. "I see… it took a lot out of you to shoot that monster fireball."
"The way I am right now, I'm confident I can shoot about… 4 more of that monster… but I don't normally shoot at full power see…"
A howl caught everyone's attention as the Genma Tyrant rose up from the ambers of the explosion. It was visibly wounded, with several of its worst wounds turned to ashes, but it's still 'alive' and furious as hell. However, the Tyrant did not escape unscathed: Kira's fire had cauterized its misshapen disemboweled guts shut. Now it can no longer disgorge reinforcements.
"Okay… these things just don't die, don't they?" For the first time in his dominant slaughtering throughout this island, Kira finally found a Genma that he can't kill with just one or two hits.
"Yooosh. Now it's my turn." With the Genma knights cleared, Waltfeldt cracked his knuckles in excitement as he pulled out his two massive axes.
"Need any help?"
"Shadow, you entrust the rear guard to me, I recall." Waltfeldt smiled confidently at Kira as the Tyrant roared in the background. "Deal with the archers the best you can… for a few seconds. I got an idea." The giant angrily launched one of its rock shattering fists towards the seemingly ignorant Waltfeldt.
CRASH!
The Tyrant growled stupidly in confusion as it saw its punch being stopped. Waltfeldt blocked the punch… with one hand, without moving an inch. "I'll deal with this guy."
Waltfeldt glared at the monster. Suddenly, everyone alive near Waltfeldt is gasping for breath. An enormous murderous aura burst out of the Hakutenkun. Kira knew this feeling too well. A life choking killing intent that only Hakutenkun possess, though this one, if you compare it to Veia's ruthless unrelenting aura or the cold elegance in Raww's, this one felt more… animalistic. For a brief moment, Kira saw a tiger… an image of a tiger, one that's even bigger than the Tyrant is standing in place of Waltfeldt, whose aura formed the said unearthly huge beast, but then it was revealed to be just Waltfeldt. "I know I can't kill you the same way Shadow can, but… he did give me a few good pointers…" Waltfeldt remaining hand flicked a switch in his axe, the blade of the axe flipped up, turning it into a large sword-like glaive. He then joined the glaive with the other axe, pommel to pommel, and the other axe too, flipped open, creating a double headed great sword. "So I'm gonna chop you up but good."
The Tyrant roared again and launched another one of its fist towards Walfeldt. The Desert tiger dropped his double headed Amber glaive and again stopped the said fist with his other hand. "What are you trying to do? Giving me a pat?" The amalgamated knights on the giant's arms suddenly sprang to action and slashed their weapons to Waltfeldt. The weapons stopped upon hitting the Hakutenkun's skin. Waltfeldt grinned. Genma's weapons will only infect someone if their infection entered his body… and none of the sword can even get through his unbelievably tough muscle and skin. Waltfeldt grinned wildly as veins popped up at the giant of a man's muscles. "My wife can pounce harder than YOU!" Waltfeldt gritted his teeth as his hand grasped the Tyrant's arms tightly; his feet sank to the ground as the Hakutenkun lifted the gargantuan genma OFF the ground.
Kira was left jaw hung. "Okay… now I've seen everything."
"NUOOOOOOHH!" Waltfeldt easily tossed the Tyrant sky high. The giant was floating for a few moments, and beneath him, Waltfeldt grasped his weapon, closed his eyes for a moment and pray. "The hunt begins… let the hunter triumph… let the hunted die with dignity." An instant later, the huge man disappeared and reappeared right behind the Tyrant, carrying his Amber twin headed glaive. "TIGRE ESPADA!" Waltfeldt roared and swing his blade at eyeblinding super speed. Three gigantic slash appeared in an instant on the Tyrant's spinal cord, flaying off the black ichors from its back while carved out some of its carapace.
"Orya? You're still in one piece?" Waltfeldt, still floating midair, looked shocked. Then he realized the reason for his folly, he hit the Tyrant on its shell, and his attack was slightly weakened by the ichors. "Whoops. Sorry, my bad. I got another one: TIGRE ORAGE!" The desert tiger split his double headed glaive into two swords and then spin furiously with his blades swinging in circles around him, creating a storm of amber blades that formed an image of a gigantic orange tiger made of blades. The tiger charge forward, claws and fangs sank into the demon's back and then spin rapidly, drilling through the demon's back. Throughout the drilling, the tiger, as in Waltfeldt, furiously and rapidly pierced the carapace of the Tyrant over and over again at the exact same point at such inhumanly fast speed.
Kira saw the unreal scenery with eyes widened in disbelief as the swirling amber tiger pushed its quarry while passing overhead.
Midway, the Amber Tiger finally pierced the Tyrant, earning a scream. Waltfeldt roared and the amber tiger went berserk as it tore the demon inside out. The force was enough to shoot the Tyrant, now with an obliterated torso, spiraling forward at break neck speed towards the Genma Archers' tower, creating a massive shockwave across the battlefield that swept through the pilgrims as the demon passed by, knocking down what's left of Liam's arrow ridden frontal crude earthen wall in the process. The gigantic demon finally crashed landed violently upon the equally colossal structure with earth shattering force, obliterating it and its occupants under its prodigious weight.
Waltfeldt landed on his feet with a crash, creating a crater with his landing. "Heh." He grinned ear to ear.
Kira had to rub his eyes several times to digest what he just saw. He fought Goud Veia, and he barely won, he fought Raww, and the masked man beat the crap out of him, though he managed to outwit him… and now… Andrew Waltfeldt, the Desert Tiger… how… in God's name… was he supposed to beat this man when the time comes?
"Well… I think we can now proceed?" Waltfeldt motioned Kira to deal the finishing blow.
"Easier said than done…" Kira scratched his head. "That thing can even resist a condensed fireball of the Goukyaku no jutsu…" 'If only I can produce more fire… but… that Fireball just now was the most I can produce…'
The ground suddenly shook again. The giant arm of the Tyrant burst out of the rubble.
Waltfeldt growled. "Oh, these things just don't die…"
With a roar, the half intact Tyrant burst out of the rubble. The left portion of its body was completely mangled, and its lower half was ripped apart, courtesy of Waltfeldt. But then something happened: The Archer Hostesses were gathering around its obliterated left shoulder. And then, thousands of Genma tendrils burst out from every part of the Tyrant, especially the damaged part. They slither to every direction and forcibly grabbed the Archer Hostesses before pulling them into the giant's wound. The other Genma Hostess tried to escape, but the tentacles swiftly captured them all and then forcibly absorbed them into the Tyrant's body. But the next alarming part, the Genma Hostess, and its archers were fused and became part of the Tyrant, and even like that, they're still capable of aiming and shooting their arrows and throwing their baby grenades. Now the Tyrant had a full host of hundreds of Archers and their respective Hostesses embedded on the left side of its body.
And if that wasn't bizarre enough, enormous amount of tendrils burst out from the Tyrant's severed lower half, creating enormous tentacles that began to merge and fuse with the tower structure it obliterated. It began reconstructing the obliterated tower one brick at a time, even transmogrify or replace some of its stone segments with organic and demonic components. Soon, a new, more menacing tower stood before the pilgrims, with the Tyrant at the top of the tower.
Waltfeldt growled angrily. He ran towards the cliff and brought down his fist with controlled strength. The punch broke a gargantuan chunk of the said cliff and the giant man grabbed the said chunk before he hurled it towards the Tyrant tower. The Tyrant roared and slammed his right fist into the said chunk. Tendrils burst out as soon as the punch connected, and in a blink of an eye, Genma tentacles completely engulfed the rock and within the next blink, the Tyrant had integrated and mutated the said chunk to its right arm, and the monster gained a new clubbing weapon.
"Ah… Oops?" Waltfeldt gulped.
"Great. You just gave it a new weapon. Wanna throw in some cannons next?" Lowe squealed in panic.
"Well… in that case I'm out of ideas…" The Desert tiger raised his hand in complete loss.
But Kira, upon seeing the merged Archers on the Tyrant's shoulder suddenly grasped an idea. "Well… I did say I need a minute to think…"
"Eh?" Waltfeldt and Lowe looked at Kira.
"Now… I got an idea." The shinobi looked at the gathered exorcists. "I'm gonna need a help from every Exorcists. From all of you."
"What do you need of us, Lord Shadow?" The Exorcists stand ready.
"Fire." Kira answered short. "A HELL LOT of fire. I ask you to give it everything you got."
"You can't ask what we will give freely, my Lord. Come brothers. We're Exorcists! It's time to ACT like ONE!" The Ruby Exorcists answered with a ceremonious yell. Kira then positioned himself at the center while the fifty exorcists encircle him. Simultaneously, every last one of them lighted themselves on fire. The biggest and the hottest fire they can manage. The fire quickly swirled together and joined into one, creating a towering pillar of fire with Kira at the center.
"Don't forget about me!" Lowe grinned excitedly as he pull his katana, and then he grated the blade to the edge of his sheathe, from base to tip, and the next second, the katana were engulfed in a massive firestorm. "FINAL HIKEN: KAGUTSUCHI!"
"I can do this too!" Lamia took a deep, deep breath: "BURNING SUN INFERNO!" The warrior princess screeched, and the echoes of her voice turned into visible ripples, and then they quickly became enormous rings of fire.
Kira quickly made a series of handseals. "Katon… KARYUU ENDAN!" Kira sent the largest fire dragon he can manage, and send it upward into the center of the pillar of fire, where it was engulfed in an instant. Usagi, Inu, Saru, Hitsuji, Ushi, Buta, Uma, Nezumi, Tori, Hebi, Tora, Ryuu! Forming the Dragon seal with one hand, Kira raised his other arm upward, towards the spiraling flame on top of him. The next instance, the three flames joined together, creating an enormous tower of fire, so huge, it rivaled the Tyrant tower. Kira's arm jutting skyward suddenly grasped something, and just like that, he took control of the gigantic pillar of fire.
At that moment, Lowe, Lamia and the Exorcists suddenly realized they're no longer in control of the fire they're emanating and stopped. But the pillar of fire remained, with Kira visibly controlling them with his right arm. Everyone watched the scene with their jaw hung in awe.
'When casting a jutsu… the largest amount of power is needed to produce the element itself. While the amount needed to actually control the element is practically negligible… merely depending on how much of the said element one control… but then again… that also depends on the user's mental state…' Kira grinned. 'I can't produce the amount we need but… if I can 'infect' the external elements with one of my own jutsu… I can 'mark' them all with my dragon seal… and took control of them without physically touching them!' Kira closed his eyes to concentrate and to ensure the flame is in control. He twitched his arm several times to see if the flames follow his control. They did… somewhat. With the amount of flame he needed is securely under his control Kira focus his attention back at the Tyrant.
Kira quickly made a series of seals. This is by far the most powerful Katon Jutsu he knew. Mwu taught him, based on notes left by Harlbarton regarding a theoretical improvement to the Karyuu Endan, and they develop it with the aid of the Cardinal seals. Unfortunately, the amount of fire needed is beyond his capability to produce. Even Mwu weren't able to use it properly either, with the end result is still far below from what Harlbarton envisioned. But with this much fire, that shouldn't be a problem. "This jutsu will burn all creation to ashes… KATON! GOURYUU REKKA! (Great Dragon Raging Fire)"
The pillar of fire changed shape, spiraling around until it became a gargantuan serpentine volcanic dragon with scorching magma skin, salivating lava, and scales generating firestorm. The Dragon roared to the heavens before it descended upon the pilgrims. Lamia gaped and Lowe was rendered completely speechless. Even Waltfeldt had to back away a little bit as the searing heat was too much even for him to bear. Then again, even for Exorcists who prided themselves of being able to eat fire for breakfast, they scurried away in fear of being burned by the fiery divine creature. Lacus stared in awe and noted, despite the horror and infernal heat, she could not help to notice of how dignified and magnificent the dragon was, fiery construct or not.
The only person not bothered by the heat by the slightest, is the caster himself. Kira kept his one arm aloft as the volcanic dragon circle around wildly. Kira grunted. It seems keeping this jutsu under control is not as easy as a task as he had once thought. The Chakra drain was far more murderous than he had anticipated. 'I had to end this NOW!' Kira looked at the Tyrant. It seems the monster was as shocked, and as horrified, as it can be. "Melt, you son of a bitch." Were Kira's final words before he jerked his right hand forward. The fire dragon wildly roared and flew straight towards the Tyrant.
The archers on the Tyrants left shoulder furiously shoot all their arrows and bombs at the Dragon, but the firestorm scales had heated the atmosphere so much, the very air itself burned them to nothing before the projectile made contact and the bombs exploded prematurely (not that it matters even if they did hit the dragon). The Tyrant swing its rock arm, but the Dragon firestorm instantly made it red hot before the Dragon's lava saliva melt through it as its volcanic fangs plow through them like hot knife through butter. The Tyrant screeched in pain… and horror. In an instant, through that first breach, the volcanic dragon repeatedly wormed its way in and out of its body, filling it with holes, melting it, immolating it, and incinerating everything inside out. Soon, the Tyrant tower were reduced to a gigantic mass of a molten glob of misshapen flash, engulfed in fire, with the serpentine dragon is coiling around the entire structure. Kira pointed his grasping arm towards the spectacle, preparing for his coup de grace. As Kira began closing his grip, the Dragon coiled itself tighter around the towers, crushing and burning it in the process.
And finally, Kira balled his hand to a fist.
And the volcanic dragon's coil squeezed the building shut before it shined brightly and then exploded; creating an intense super hot volcanic pillar of explosion that reached to the sky, burning the heavens itself. The Tyrant, the tower, and everything else caught up in the pillar of destruction were completely vaporized down to the last drop of blood, not even ash remained. When the explosion died down, all that's left was a giant smoking crater, its rock is still glowing red hot and the temperature of the area doesn't seem to be cooling down anytime soon.
Waltfeldt, in all his years of military career, suddenly felt an emotion that a Hakutenkun rarely, if ever, felt: the cold chill of fear down his spine. The unexpected loss of his interchangeable weapon reveal one fact: Shadow was still capable of mass destruction even WITHOUT his superweapon. Which shows that he doesn't need a superweapon, he himself is already a superweapon. 'Shadow clearly declared that he cannot be trusted… implying that he will become an enemy someday… but then… how… in God's name… was I supposed to beat him when the time comes?'
Waltfeldt looked at Kira, and Kira returned the stare. For a moment there, the two warriors could almost feel that the two were thinking the same thing: what should they do when the time comes when the two will fight one another.
The Tiger and the Dragon stare each other in a stalemate mental battle… and then Waltfeldt finally chuckled and shoved his fist. "Nice one."
"Well thanks to you joining them up, we busted two birds with one stone." Kira also chuckled and also shoved his fist, meeting fist with fist.
"Now, let's deal with the other matter about your superweapon."
"You don't have to. I already know who did it." Kira flatly stated. He calmly walked towards the culprit. "There are two other people who had taken possession of Shiki, other than me. One is Lowe… but at that time Shiki spoke to me soon after, so that rules him out. Which leaves only one other suspect. So either you return it to me right now… or I will take it back from you one piece at a time… Princess."
Lacus blinked innocently at the accusation. She tilted her head for a moment as she rubbed her chin as if thinking. "Ah!" She clapped her hand and then turned around as she rummaged her belongings. A moment later, she procured another katana. "Is this it?" She handed the weapon to Kira.
The shinobi took it, and then to make sure, he began testing it. The Katana transformed into its blue bladeless polearm, then into the bladed green bow. It's authentic Shiki. Kira sighed in relief. The nagging feeling is gone, and he had his good arm back.
"You must've taken it by mistake from one of my collection. I mean… I brought some of my Japanese katana collection… tee hee." Lacus lied, and they both knew it.
"I was mistaken." And for that, Kira slapped her, causing her smile to vanish and everyone gasped in horror. "I was mistaken to think for one second that you were different."
A red mark appeared on her right cheek. Hilda quickly fly into rage and would've hack Kira's neck right then and there if not for Lacus raised her arm and stopped her. The Princess didn't say anything. She realized she deserved that slap.
Kira growled angrily. "A lot of good men died because of that prank. Many others wounded. Did you work that on your conscious?"
Lacus' eyes widened. Again with that lifeless eye Kira has been seeing. But this time it's more vivid and obvious. She bowed down. "…gomennasai."
The Shinobi's temper flared instantly. "YOU THINK THIS IS A SIMPLE MATTER OF AN APOLOGY?"
"ENOUGH!" Lamia hissed and stood before Lacus and Kira before the latter, in her assumption, do her sister further injury. "Whatever wrong or misunderstanding she had caused, my sister had apologized. As for the death of the Knights, we came here prepared for that eventuality. If you need more than that, we're prepared to make amends as needed. But this is neither time nor place to press this matter! You will leave it at that. Otherwise…" The female knight pointed her sword menacingly.
Kira gritted his teeth in pure rage seeing Lacus will get away lightly. "You keep your sister away from me then. If she gets within 20 feet of me, I might gonna tear her to pieces!" With another scoff, Kira turned around and walk away, under the eyes of every shocked and horrified knight in vicinity.
00000000000000000
00000000000000000
Ruby Exorcists
Ruby Exorcists are a branch of Zaft Military, specializing in shock and awe tactics, digging the enemy out of the trenches by way of fire and valor. They were officially established shortly after the Bloody Valentine incident, though in reality, they've existed much longer than that. Before they are what they are today, Exorcists were originally men of the cloth. They were priests, friars, clergymen, monks, and theologist, worshipping and praying to the Gods in a much more spiritual manner. They already existed far, far during the time when the Oni ruled. The Onis felt the need to teach mankind about faith, and so they taught the early humans the mythology and how to pray and worship. Their use of fire in ritual are usually only as far as to burn their tributes to the Gods. They believed fire is the symbol of the God's power, a fraction that was given to men to make their mortal short life more meaningful. They particularly worship Lightning, which is considered the God's personal flame. It is understandable that the sacred animal of this church was the Phoenix, whose flesh said to form the Sun. Their emblem was the Phoenix embodying the sun, decorated by a comet tail made of lightning. The Church of Fire, as they are called, spread their teachings peacefully. They do not take grudge when others do not believe in their faith, such is the way the Onis had taught them. Their peaceful ways remained even after their first teachers vanished and extinct.
All that change during the Great Division where the empire was first sundered between the Advanced and the Naturals. When the Naturals began their genocide of the Advanced race and to wipe out all trace of the Onis, the church suffered immensely. Many of their members were tortured and killed on the spot. And these were the lucky ones. Nuns were captured, tortured, raped. Priest was mutilated and brutally disfigured. The worst of it was when the Blue Cosmos, in some form of terror tactics, showcased the burning of over 80,000 priests, nuns, and other followers of the faith on a field of stakes, and then used their charred black skeletons as a decoration on their Priest hunt coat of arms. Throughout the holocaust, over 1,000,000 followers of the church were burned at the stake, and only a quarter of that number was ever found and identified.
This proved to be the turning point for the Church of Fire. The survivors went underground, hidden and waited until the Holocaust would pass. During their time underground, the Church underwent a drastic transformation. The Holocaust radicalized the survivors of the church, creating a darker, more vicious Church, one hell bent on revenge on the Naturals. Whereas they previously would preach of love and faith with words and acts of kindness, now they will spread their faith of revenge through blood and steel and flame. The priests who once bring their bibles to bring faith and enlightenment to the faithless now bring along a torch. Those who refuse to believe will be judged, smite down for their faithlessness, and 'burned' out of their sins. Steel and flame are the new voice. Madness and over-zealotry are the new faith. Fight fire with more fire that is the new credo. Revenge in the name of God is their new mission. As with this transformation in their methods, so did their symbol. The Phoenix was now replaced by an ash black skull, in remembrance of the charred black skulls of the victims who were burned at the stake. A symbol still carried today on the Exorcists' armories and weapon design.
When George of Glenn is on the rise, the Church of Fire gladly welcomed the much awaited leader, they even rejoined and reconcile with the other Church survivors of the Holocaust who escaped the burning on the stake. However, horrified by their new violent methods, George did not sanction their use until they 'straighten up'. Thusly, George re-assimilated the old Church order with these new violent Church, in the hopes that the burning anger of these violent priests can be sated with the old way. The progress was rather slow as their thirst for vengeance is not easily quenched. When George wrote the Codex, the Church saw it fit to combine the said scriptures with their bible. These Biblex (not official name) are still being carried today, almost exclusively, by the Exorcists. However, George would live to see how the Church of Fire of Old and New finally merged into a new united church. One that possess the best qualities from both old and new, purging some of the weakness from both sides, planting the seed of what would later became one of the main branch of Zaft's military forces. Unfortunately, George will not live to see his effort bear fruit. With his death during the preventing of the Demongate opening, the flames of revenge were fanned anew. And not just from the new church aspect of the unified, but also from the old one. At this point, the Church of Fire has officially taken a path of violence and ways of war, while continue teaching faith in their gods… and hate to the unbelievers (naturals) as an added curriculum. The Church expanded explosively in the long decades after the Sundering, where shattered will and weary hearts were quickly swayed by the preaching of the priests to soothe their bodily suffering. By the time just before the Bloody Valentine, all Advanced who lived in Zaft plant continents followed the faith of the Church of Fire.
It was several short years after the Bloody Valentine, the discovery of the Miracle of Junius, and the subsequent knowledge of the purification and the announcement of the Pilgrimage that the Church of Fire finally established its official military arms: the Ruby Exorcists. With their ranks taken from the enormous number of the Church' followers, which encompassed almost all of the Advanced population in Zaft, the Exorcists is the second largest military branch of all Zaft military arms (the first being Emerald Knights, the third being the Forge Corps Legionnaires). These Ruby Exorcists are known to be faithful men of the cloth… fanatical and zealous to the extreme. Their faith in fire is so strong, they literally soaked their armor in oil and fat, allowing them to use an increasingly dangerous practice called the Fire Jacket technique, where they literally lit themselves on fire and then charged ahead. The technique was said to inflict so much pain into their system to the point they will eventually became a quarter dead and all pain sensory were annulled, making them unable to feel any pain, increasing their strength to brutal proportion. Senior Exorcists even went so far as to have all their sweat glands burnt out and they lost the ability to lower their bodily heat so as to produce hotter flames and then die when they self combust, burning all the fat in their own body. The exceptional few who survived would be promoted into Fire Knights. Indeed, Exorcists and Fire Knights share an almost exclusive relationship: while there are known examples where Bladebanes or Legionnaires became any one of the five elemental knights, there has been no recorded history of an Exorcist becoming a different elemental Knights other than fire. This is one of the factors as to why most of the Ace Commanders of the Empire's army are Fire Knights. The Exorcists also did not bury their dead. They burned them all, occasionally taking the skulls of their family member, both as remembrance and also to be used in conjunction with their fire arcane spells. Fire is their faith. And with that faith, the Exorcists sets out, and they will have their revenge. Revenge in the name of God. This is a crusade. A holy war against the enemy of the Gods. They will not stop until all enemies and heretics of the Empire are cinders and ash.
00000000000000000
00000000000000000
00000000000000000
The Next chapter will be uploaded as soon as I finished editing them.
